OK VoidMan I'm Back

[Louis D]

I'm still writing to you from the windows side of my hard drive, so that means my network card is not up yet.  I feel like I'm doing better with bash than the gnome desktop because gnome is kind of wierd.  Anyway, I still can't mount the floppy drive because it isn't set up in /etc/fstab.  So what I did was copy the fealnx.c and fealnx.o files provided by the manufacturer of my ethernet card (Its manufactured by asound,http://www.asound.net I got it for $7 from www.computersurplusoutlet.com) into windows.  I remembered someone saying that you could see all those hidden directoried that the Riddler is talking about from the linux partition, so I figured I'd just copy the files from the windows partion into the linux partition from bash when I started linux again.  I copied it into my home directory then tried running the compiler per the instructions in the readme file.  This was the command, which I'm sure means a lot more to you than it does to me #gcc -DMODULE D_KERNEL_ -I/usr/src/linux/net/inet -Wall-Wstrict-prototypes -06 -c fealnx.c    After typing this, I didn't get any message saying wether or not it was done or not (keep in mind I don't know if its supposed to say anything)  But I do know that there is no subdirectory called linux after /usr/src/.  The only thing after that is something called RPM.  So I'm guessing that I'm compiling this into thin air.        The readme file then tells you to #insmod fealnx.o and some other stuff that I guess is irrelevant until the file is in the right place.  I can deal without having a floppy until I learn more about what I'm doing, but It would be nice to be posting to the fuckmicrosoft message board from linux instead of windows.  For anyone else reading this, I appreciate any help you can give me.  I don't know shit about any *nix, but I want to learn.  Void man replied to my first post for help, so I'm just trying to get his attention.

[Centurian]

Hey MeatHead,

I am also very new to Linux. However I have been using dos for years and have done some extensive programming.

I would suggest you start up the KDE. Then using one of the available file managers (Konquer is a good one) go to /usr/src and make the folder /linux then go into it and make the folder /net then enter it and make the folder /inet. Now that those are created you can run a command with the run command in the main menu. So just run the command you want from there and it should do what you want.

Of course as I mentioned I am aslo extremely new to Linux so I may be sending you on a wild goose chase here.

Later
Centurian

[Louis D]

Centurian, thanks.  I may try that later.  I don't mind a wild goose chase.  You can learn a lot that way, even if you just learn what not to do.

[voidmain]

Oh god, I'm going to get flamed for this one.          I guess this will be a good learning experience for you. Most people would take the easy way out and spend the $10 on one of many supported NIC cards.  I've used a lot of network cards but I've never heard of the one you have.

Now, you've copied the source code for the driver to your home directory and you tried to compile it with GCC.  If you got no messages then the compile was probably good. If you don't have gcc installed it would have complained.  If you didn't have the kernel source installed it and needed it, it would have complained.  Did you do a directory listing to see if you had a fealnx.o?  If you do then you have the kernel module compiled and ready to load into the kernel.  

Eventually you need to put this file into the kernel network modules directory on your system (normally /lib/modules/<kernversion>/net) and use the "modprobe" and "depmod" commands.  

For now you should be able to test it from the directory you compiled it in by typing "insmod fealnx.o".  See if the module is loaded by typing "lsmod".  Check if the system recognizes the card "/sbin/ifconfig" which should show two devices, an "eth0" and a "lo".  

At this point, if you want to graphically configure the network card, use whatever Mandrake network configure tool you want (netconfig?).  You don't have to reboot to do any of this, but if/when you do reboot the module will not be automatically loaded unless you put it in the kernel directory I mentioned above.  

Also, if this is a plug-n-pray card it should detect it on bootup and load the appropriate module.  Worst case scenerio is you have to manually make entries in the /etc/modules.conf file.

As far as mounting floppies goes, an entry doesn't *have* to be in the /etc/fstab for you to mount it although for the floppy I would add it.  You can mount the floppy by typing:

mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy

make sure the /mnt/floppy directory exists before doing this.

Alternately add this to your /etc/fstab:

/dev/fd0   /mnt/floppy    auto    noauto,owner    0 0

and then you can just do a "mount /mnt/floppy" or do it from gnome ICON etc...

To learn more about kernel modules and how to properly use the tools, and a much better explaination than what I can give, look at the modules section of this HOWTO:
http://www.linhardware.com/LDP/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO.html

or maybe better:
http://www.linuxhq.com/kernel/v2.4/doc/modules.txt.html

[ December 18, 2001: Message edited by: VoidMain ]

[Louis D]

Thank you void.  I would've spent the 10 bucks on a supported card, but dealing with stuff like this is how I've learned anything in the past (obviously not about linux).  If anyone gives you any shit, I'll kick thier ass.  Or, I'll just make a phone call...(That's the way Italians in North Jersey handle things anyway)

[Louis D]

It Works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[voidmain]

quote:Originally posted by MeatHead:
It Works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bravo!  Now isn't that much more satisfying than having it work right out of the box?  

[Calum]

Voidmain, why not write some tutorials for fuckmicrosoft.com like the r1ddler? and webmaster, why not include this in amongst the articles part of the site? which needs to exist soon? or maybe get voidmain to rewrite it so it's more general for a lot of people. Well, just an idea.

[voidmain]

quote:Originally posted by Calum:
Voidmain, why not write some tutorials for fuckmicrosoft.com like the r1ddler?

There are already much better tutorial/HOWTO docs out there for this kind of stuff than I could ever write. Rather than pointing him to the tutorials I had some extra time and wanted to test my memory and tried to shorten things down for his specific issue. Hopefully saving him some time in the process.

[Centurian]

Hey VoidMain,

There is a very good reason why you should share your expertice with others in the form of tutorials.

Language is relative to both the author and end-user. While the author attempts to convey his/her message the end user may or may not find it understandable. For that reason the book stores have a variety of books covering the same subject. Each author can get their point across to a group of people to not to everyone.

Have you ever picked up a book and found it either way below or way above your head. In some cases that is because it was written for advanced or beginners but in many cases it is because the author has written in a way that either unusually simple for you or extremely complicated for you.

So I would have to agree that if you have the time you should write tutorials. Particularly with the onset of Mandrake 8.1 I believe it will woo many users away from MS and those users will need tutorials from a variety of authors.

Later
Centurian

[voidmain]

quote:Originally posted by Centurian:
Hey VoidMain,

There is a very good reason why you should share your expertice with others in the form of tutorials.

Language is relative to both the author and end-user. While the author attempts to convey his/her message the end user may or may not find it understandable. For that reason the book stores have a variety of books covering the same subject. Each author can get their point across to a group of people to not to everyone.

Have you ever picked up a book and found it either way below or way above your head. In some cases that is because it was written for advanced or beginners but in many cases it is because the author has written in a way that either unusually simple for you or extremely complicated for you.

So I would have to agree that if you have the time you should write tutorials. Particularly with the onset of Mandrake 8.1 I believe it will woo many users away from MS and those users will need tutorials from a variety of authors.

Later
Centurian

Very good note but I don't believe writing is one of my strong suits. If it were, the debates I have been involved in on the other threads would have been over in one or two rounds.  On the other hand I should have used the time that I've wasted in the OS1 vs OS2 debates on this site writing code for Linux to pass out to others.  

I've tried to spend more time with my kids lately (while they still want to spend time with me) doing things like riding dirt bikes and building/flying R/C planes, helping with their homework etc.  As soon as they stop wanting to spend time with me and I am wealthy beyond belief (I figure by 2073) I'll dedicate all my time to coding in Linux.  

In the mean time I use Linux to make some bucks on the side of my day job (NIX/NT/Network) for securing up Win* shops.  Spam/Virus filters, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), converting them from MS/IIS to Linux/Apache for their Web servers, network server and router monitoring, firewalls, VPNs, etc...  And I have all the open source developers to thank for bringing these tools to us and filling in the gaps where MS lacks.  I give back where I can but I would certainly like to give more.

[ December 18, 2001: Message edited by: VoidMain ]

[Louis D]

I really did appreciate VoidMan's help, and I'd gladly welcome anything he could write on the subject.  But that is a lot of shit to write, and he is correct in saying that much of it has already been written.  My suggestion would be a forum for getting help on switching to Linux from MS.  That is part of the goal of this site isn't it.  That way, we could direct people just switching over, like myself, to places where help and documentation are available as well as providing our own knowledge.  In my case, that isn't much, but maybe I could keep other Newbies  from being scared off.  (Maybe links to linux howtos etc. should be inclulded with the links to the sites of alternative OS's)  I've been coming to this site for a month now and I've seen a very large increase in the number of registered members.  (Almost doubled I think)  There are plenty of people out there who would be willing to help, and that way VoidMan can run over his kids with R/C monster trucks or whatever else he wants to do.  The important thing to remember here is that Microsoft did not get so big on technical merit.  I hate to say it, but they are very good businessmen.  But, we are supposedly in a recession, and I'm going to a neigbor's house for Christmans so we can all cheer him up.  He's miserable because he lost a lot of money sitting on the couch watching his intel stock plummet.  He's not in the market for a new computer, and he's not the only one in that situation.  For $30 I got more software with my Linux distro than I've gotten from microsoft ever.  I don't even think you can get solitare from them for $30.  And between XP and free, I'd take free even if I didn't care one way or the other about MS. There is clearly an opportunity here.
  I was always the kid in the neighborhood who the neigbors called when their computers stopped working.  I have nothing close to the knowledge that some of the professionals who contribute their thoughts to this site have, but I do have influence over my block.  The goal should be to make the transition easier, and then it will be easier to eradicate microsoft, one block at a time.

P.S. Sorry webmaster for asking for links and Membership numbers.  I'm not trying to make you work, but I think some progress has been made here.

[voidmain]

quote:Originally posted by MeatHead:
My suggestion would be a forum for getting help on switching to Linux from MS.  That is part of the goal of this site isn't it.

You sounded like the goal of this site is to get people to switch from MS to Linux but I don't think that is what you meant, but rather to switch them to some other OS.  I don't know if that is the goal of this site or not, maybe webmaster can enlighten us. As far as I know it might just be a way to get 15 minutes of fame, but that's always fun too.

 

quote:
There are plenty of people out there who would be willing to help, and that way VoidMan can run over his kids with R/C monster trucks or whatever else he wants to do.

How did you know we also have a Monster truck?  We've got the Nitro (gas) powered Traxxas T-MAXX.  4-wheel drive, 2 speed automatic, forward/reverse, and it's great taking it to construction sites and flying over hugh gravel piles.

 

quote:
  I was always the kid in the neighborhood who the neigbors called when their computers stopped working.

That's funny.  Every time I go to my parents house on vacation I'm the one that spends his entire vaction over at all of the relatives house fixing their freakin' Windows. I made some mad this last time because I told them I was *out* of the Microsoft fixit-man business.  I was always too afraid to put Linux on my Dad's PC for fear if there was a problem he couldn't fix it.  Hell, he can't fix a Microsoft problem and all he does is play Solitaire anyway and browse the net rarely and receive much spam in his email (last time I was home I had to clean up that latest email virus).

I just might install Linux for him when I go back there this weekend.  He can't screw that up because it won't let him.  And it comes with a hell of a lot better card games (including Solitaire) than MS does.  I wonder what percentage of computers sold with MS are used solely for playing Solitaire?  I don't believe my dad is a rare bird.

 

quote:
 I have nothing close to the knowledge that some of the professionals who contribute their thoughts to this site have, but I do have influence over my block.

It would be an interesting project.  I would like to hear how it comes out. I would get a little more experience of your own first though.  To me, supporting *NIX is a whole lot more fun.

[Louis D]

I'm guessing that the goal of this site is to eradicate microsoft, since it is the microsoft eradication society.  My message was not meant to imply that this is a site solely to switch people over to linux.  I know the webmaster has a special place in his heart for macs, but I don't have a special place in my wallet for one right now. (That's what my school finacial Aid Check is for anyway) All I was suggesting was that if anyone truly wants to eradicate microsoft, they have to offer an alternative.  I was just suggesting ways to aid the transition to linux. IBM is going to make a business out of it.  Look at their new commercial with the empty room and the little linux server.  Does anyone think that corporations are going to be able to ignore the price of StarOffice vs. the cost of yet another upgrade of MS office?  Its certainly not going to happen overnight, but the need is clearly there and growing.  There are other choices for everything, even if you don't get someone to stop using windows, you may get them to download opera, or use realplayer (I know this will probably prompt an anti realplayer reply.  Just let me make my point and debate that somewhere else) or anything but that stupid windows media player.  I guess you're right, the webmaster (who I hope will reply to this) knows the ultimate goal of this site.  I just wanted to put my two cents in.  I think a site that offers alternatives along with an informal forum for advice on those alternatives (and a healthy dose of anti-M$ propaganda) would certainly help the cause of anything called the Microsoft eradication society.  Its been a while for me with R/C trucks, I Have a Super Blackfoot.  I don't even know If they still make them.  It was a lucky guess that you had one, but trucks are cool.  Its cool if you crash a truck because you can break stuff with it.  I never had an RC plane.  It sucks to crash them because they just break.  Oh yea webmaster, I know that you have another forum for suggestions about this site, but this discussion just popped up in this thread.

[Louis D]

One last thing VoidMan. I know I should learn a bit more first, but I do have a history of using my unsuspecting neigbors' computers for my own educational purposes.  I guess I shouldn't go to medical school.